Baggies boss Tony Pulis has beaten off the challenge of the Terriers and Ranocchia’s former side Genoa to land the Italy centre-back from Inter Milan.

Pulis needs to strengthen his central defensive options following the departure of long-serving Jonas Olsson from The Hawthorns at the end of last season.

And he stepped up his interest in Ranocchia, 29, after being put off Kurt Zouma by Chelsea’s demand for a £8m fee to take the French defender on loan for a year.

Ranocchia returned to the San Siro two months ago after spending the second half of last term on loan at Hull, whose hopes of snapping him up on a permanent deal were wrecked by the Tigers relegation to the Championship.

And Ranocchia made it clear he wanted to continue playing in the Premier League after being told by new Inter boss Luciano Spalletti that he is not part of his plans.

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That ended Genoa’s chances of re-signing the defender they sold to their Serie A rivals for £12.5million six years ago.

And Huddersfield chief David Wagner’s attempt to make Ranocchia his 10th summer signing came to an abrupt end when the Italian star told him he preferred to join a more established top flight outfit.

Ranocchia, whose contract with Inter ends in 2019, is expected to pen a two-year deal worth around £80,000-a-week at Albion.